But the JGTC cars will not make a showing at the event. The IROC Slot.It Porsche 962s will be used instead for a 18-hour endurance race taking place on two tracks. 16 drivers, 4 teams of 4 drivers each, 2 cars per team that they have to take care of. Race starts at 9PM on Friday night and will be stopped at 3PM on Saturday, with a change of track at around 6AM. All in all, each driver will get to race more than 4 hours total. At any time during the event, each team will have to supply a driver (!!) and a marshall. The other two team members will be able to sleep, eat, do repairs, etc.
Each team member will be required to drive 120 minutes on each track, the rest is left open to the team. If one driver is better suited to a partcular lane, he will be able to drive 2 hours straight on that lane if he wants to. But I don't think this is a good idea, concentration-wise. Repairs and tuning on the supplied cars will have to use the supplied tools and stuff only at a special tuning table that every team will have to use. No secrets.
There will be no track calls (unless absolutely necessary) so the racing will really be non-stop, except for the pause around 6PM to switch tracks (going from Christian's to Georges').
We think the teams are pretty much equal and we know the cars are very very close in performance but to make sure everyone will be on their toes for the duration of the event, we will assign the cars randomly at the start of the race. After two rounds out of 8, the team in last place will be able to choose a car from the first-place team (which will in turn do the same). Same with the 3rd place with the 2nd place. And these swaps will take place every two rounds. This way, nobody will be able to use the "lesser-car excuse" for finishing last.
This will be a race that we won't soon forget. Steve S, Andy, Dickie, Bob M and Roy will be there (can't wait to see you guys!). Any regrets yet for those staying down south?!!
If all goes well, a 24-hour race is still in the works for 2009.
Christian




